In a known gob distributor as disclosed in EP 0 202 116 A1, FIGS. 10, 11a and 11b the electric servomotor, having a horizontal longitudinal axis, rotationally drives a coaxial recirculating ball spindle by means of a coupling. A recirculating ball nut of a sliding unit, said sliding unit being longitudinally displaceable and secured against rotation, is engaged with the recirculating ball spindle. A plate is articulated on the sliding unit and a rack is articulated on the plate. All annular pinions of the scoop channels mesh with the rack. Disadvantages in this case are the high construction cost, the large space requirement and the large amount of power required from the electric servomotor because of the large masses which have to be accelerated.
In the case of a gob distributor which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,431 A for double-gob operation the gear mechanism (FIGS. 5 and 6) comprises: An angular gear which can be driven in an alternating manner by the electric servomotor, a vertical driven shaft of the angular gear, a radial arm attached to the driven shaft, on the arm two externally-toothed toothed sectors, which are axially aligned with each other, and a pinion meshing with each toothed sector, wherein each of the two pinions is attached to a vertical shaft which supports a scoop channel and which shafts are disposed laterally spaced apart from each other. Between one of these shafts and the associated scoop channel an open frame is disposed, through which the other scoop channel extends. The afore-mentioned disadvantages also apply to this case.
From U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,187 A it is known per se to drive a screw (FIG. 2) in a constant rotational direction by means of a motor (FIG. 1). The screw turns a worm wheel and this worm wheel turns, via a horizontal shaft, a support disc with a cam ring extending radially outwards over the whole periphery. A cam roller lies against each axial surface of the cam ring. Both cam rollers are mounted on a toothed sector which is attached to a vertical shaft. In the same way as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,431 A the toothed sector drives, in an alternating manner, two pinions which are disposed laterally spaced apart from each other and at different heights, and the scoop channels associated therewith. The afore-mentioned disadvantages also apply to this case.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,847 A it is known per se to use an electric servomotor with a horizontal longitudinal axis to drive a coaxial cam shaft in a rotating manner. A cylindrical cam with a screw-like cam path is attached to the cam shaft for each scoop channel. In each case two cam rollers engage over this cam path, these cam rollers extending, in a mutually spaced arrangement, radially outwards from a vertical sleeve portion at the upper end of the scoop channel. The sleeve portion is rotatably mounted in a housing of the gob distributor. This construction is complicated and liable to wear in the region of the cam drive.
From EP 0 133 775 A2 it is known per se to use an electric servomotor with a horizontal longitudinal axis, via a coupling, to drive a shaft and an angular gear so as to rotate a pinion. The pinion meshes with internal toothing of a toothed crown which is rotatably mounted in a housing of the gob distributor. Annular pinions of the scoop channels are rotationally driven by the toothed crown either directly (FIGS. 1 and 3) or via a driving toothed wheel and an intermediate toothed wheel (FIG. 7). In accordance with FIG. 2 each annular pinion is attached externally to a rotatable vertical sleeve portion. The upper end of the associated scoop channel is connected to the sleeve portion at the bottom. The whole gob distributor is displaceable horizontally on two mutually parallel guide rods (FIG. 1) by means of an integrated piston-cylinder unit so that, in emergency operation, the gobs no longer fall into the scoop channels but are diverted into the refuse container. This construction type is also sluggish, expensive and cumbersome.